All schools and academies must have a complaints procedure which ensures that they respond to complaints as quickly and effectively as possible. The procedure will set out exactly what will happen with a complaint and how long the process will take.

Each school or academy’s procedure may differ, so it is important that you gain a copy of the procedure directly from the school. A copy should be available to download from the school website. The complaints procedure will be used to deal with complaints relating to the school and any community facilities or services that the school provides.

Many schools and academies have a staged process to deal with complaints and every attempt should be made to resolve any complaints or concerns at the earliest stage possible. Usually the first point of contact in a school or academy is a designated member of staff, class teacher or head of year.

When making a complaint it is important that the complainant identifies their desired outcome, that is what actions they feel might resolve the problem at any stage. Pupils, parents or carers can make a complaint to the school about most aspects of its function.

Members of the general public may make complaints to the school if the school is directly responsible for the issue being complained about for example, behaviour of pupils during break-times; health and safety issues of premises and behaviour of staff.

There are times that formal procedures may need to be invoked when initial attempts to resolve the complaint are unsuccessful and the person raising the complaint remains dissatisfied and wishes the matter to be heard by an impartial committee of the Governing Board. The formal process will be identified within the complaints procedure and this will usually be administered by the clerk to the governing or trust board.